Edge n.
1. A thin, sharpened side, as of the blade of a cutting instrument.
2. The degree of sharpness of a cutting blade.
3. A penetrating, incisive quality.
4. A slight but noticeable sharpness or harshness.
5. The line of intersection of two surfaces.
6. A rim or brink.
7. The point at which something is likely to begin.
8. The area or part away from the middle; an extremity.
9. A dividing line; a border.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

I'm accompanying Dr. Wayne Schmidt and members of their missions team on a site visit to the Wesleyan Bible college in Cambodia. From Cambodia, Pastor Wayne and I will travel on to Auckland, New Zealand. I'll be returning on August 5 after our team invests in training an NZ Wesleyan team in their first church planter assessment center.

So...there is unlikely to be another post until after August 5.

Thank you for all you do to extend God's Kingdom!

Your servant in Christ,Mark

Monday, July 16, 2007

Steve Moore, president of EFMA and Wesleyan minister, recounted the following story to illustrate perseverance:

"With memories of the Holocaust still fresh at the end of World War II, the UN passed the Genocide Convention in 1948. It was a pledge that the evil of destroying a national, racial or religious group would never be repeated in history. The U.S. Senate failed to endorse the treaty. In 1967, Senator William Proxmire became convinced that disregarding the treaty was an act of moral cowardice. So Proxmire pledged to speak on behalf of the Genocide Convention every day that Congress was in session until it was ratified. He followed through on this promise for 3211 consecutive speeches over nearly twenty years. The endorsement was finally passed and signed into law in 1988."

As a church leader, what is the "one thing" that you feel strongly enough about that you'd be willing to give 3211 talks on the same subject?

Friday, July 13, 2007

H.B. London's "The Pastor's Weekly Briefing" contained this short article:

"A small clay tablet, that was unearthed near Baghdad in 1920, was deciphered for the first time only last week. The cuneiform inscription, dating from 595BC during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, mentions an official by the name Nebo-Sarsekim, who is also spoken of in Jeremiah 39. 'This is a fantastic discovery ... a world-class find," said Irving Finkel of the BritishMuseum's Middle East Department. "A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power.'

"Dr. Michael Jursa of the University of Vienna, who has been studying artifacts at the museum for over 15 years, found the two-inch-wide tablet among the museum's collection of more than 100,000 inscribed tablets. According to Jursa, who is one of only a handful of scholars worldwide who are able to read cuneiform script, the text of the inscription is basically a receipt, acknowledging the payment of 0.75 kg of gold to a temple in Babylon."

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

I strongly encourage you to check out Outreach Magazine's current issue"...A glance at America’s Top 25 Multiplying Churches list reveals teams of pastors, leaders and church members spurred by vision and determination to follow the mission Christ mandates in Acts 1:8—to multiply beyond Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. And while they are but 25 of the many churches, denominations and organizations also committed to church planting, the scope and experience of these congregations provide valuable lessons for the rest of us.

As Dave Ferguson, lead pastor for Community Christian Church (communitychristian.org; No. 7 on the list), explains, the motivation for reproducing leaders, artists, sites, churches and networks comes from the Acts 1:8 mission.

“For us to accomplish Christ’s directive, we have come to value the edge over the center, the new over the established, and the lost more than the found,” says Ferguson.

Today’s multiplying churches are adopting new ways of planting, as well as new principles. As they multiply themselves—taking care to instill a DNA of reproduction in each new church they plant—these churches are increasing their Kingdom impact..."